Freedom sophomore Hayden Taylor was crowned District XI Class 3A diving champion on Feb. 24 at Emmaus High School, the only diver to break a score of 400 and clinch first place by a comfortable 56 points out of 14 female competitors.

“It’s just amazing, seeing all my hard work pay off, and I had really good competitors behind me, keeping me pushing,” Taylor said. “It really means a lot.”

Taylor’s first of 11 dives was an inward dive pike, and her last was a reverse dive pike on which she scored 38.25.

“Those are my two strongest dives,” said Taylor. “I think my second dive, my inward 1 1/2, I could definitely drop that in a lot better than I did today, so that was a little frustrating, but I came back from that.”

Freedom diving coach Mark Parry presented Taylor with the gold medal before the district champion stepped to the top of the podium.

“This was the goal for this year, to take the district championship,” Parry said. “I wanted her to keep in mind that this was just a normal meet and not to play up to the occasion because diving is such a mental sport. The first two dives, there were some jitters, and then she threw that double in for 42 points, and she was back.”

Taylor’s forward double was the fourth of her 11 dives.

“I stood it up really nice, I rode the board, I got good height, and I dropped it in very solid,” she said. “My other solid dive was my back 1 1/2 somersault. I dropped that in really nice as well as my double.”

Northampton’s Isabella Kish, who won the silver medal with a score of 345.70, will join Taylor, whose score was 402.50, at the PIAA State Diving Championships in March.

Parkland’s Johanna Cook placed third with a score of 334.95, and teammate Sam Schultz placed fourth with a score of 334.05.

Liberty’s Gabriella Madeira came in fifth with a score of 301.90, and teammate Eva Madeira placed eighth with a score of 290.90, both coached by Emily Kocis.